The background information discussed below is presented to better illustrate the novelty and usefulness of the present invention. This background information is not admitted prior art.
The use of open-air carts, often referred to as NEVs (Neighborhood Electric Vehicles), is growing exponentially. Entire communities are being designed to integrate these carts. One example is Peachtree City, Ga., a town of 35,000, where most every family has a low-speed, low-carbon producing vehicle. About 10,000 of these carts are roaming the 90 miles of cart-compatible paths for people to pick up groceries, take kids to school, and doing all the short trips that make up so much of our daily driving. Another example is the Villages in Sumter County, Fla., which increased its population of 8,333 at the 2000 census by 517.33% census to 51,442 by the 2010 census. Many drivers now refer to their open-air golf-carts as “their second car” that is used not only within the village, but outside of the village as well, to drive to shopping centers and medical facilities, on nearby highways.
Such open-air carts are now street-legal in at least 45 states, which means that they are driven under a variety of weather conditions ranging from very warm to very cold, windy, rainy, and even snowy. Thus, open-air cars typically now come with a canopy and a windshield. Also available as accessories are side and rear protective-enclosures to shelter the occupants and the interior of the car from the elements, including wind, cold, snow, and rain. Although all currently available hand-roll enclosures use various means of securing their protective-enclosures to the cart, such as by means of either a zipper, hook and loop, snaps or a combination of these, including securing the bottom edge to the cart with snaps or hooks, these attachment means are not tight. There are gaps between each set of attachment means that allow wind and elements of the weather to enter the cart. Because currently available protective-enclosures are only available as accessories, they must be attached to the cart along with the attachment means discussed above.
The type of open-air cart with which the example of this invention is concerned comes with a roof (also referred to as a canopy or a roof-canopy) to protect both the cart's passengers and the interior of the cart from the effects of the elements. In addition to a protective roof-canopy, protective-enclosures are added to cover the side openings on a cart, as needed. Most carts include a rear storage compartment used to hold a golf-bag and clubs, as well as other gear such as sweater boxes, coolers, and seed boxes. When the rear compartment is designed for the storage of golf-bags, the rear-canopy protective-enclosure is often referred to as a bag-cover, with a Club Protector® canopy being a prime example. The rear-canopy can be opened to access the contents carried in the rear compartment and closed when the cart is not in use.